Photo gallery: Gulf oil spill, Day 40

View full size(AP Photo/BP PLC)In an image made from video provided by BP PLC shows oil continues to erupt from the remains of their oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico early Monday May 31, 2010. After their latest attempt to plug the leak failed, BP is looking into other means of dealing with the leak.

A summary of events
on Monday, May 31, Day 40 of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began
with the April 20 explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater
Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, which is in
charge of cleanup and containment. The blast killed 11 workers. Since
then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well
at a rate of at least 210,000 gallons per day.

MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP

Independent
scientists and government officials say there's a disaster we can't see
in the Gulf of Mexico's mysterious depths, the ruin of a world
inhabited by enormous sperm whales and tiny, invisible plankton.
Researchers say they've found at least two massive underwater plumes of
what appears to be oil, each hundreds of feet deep and stretching for
miles. Yet the chief executive of BP PLC -- which has for weeks
downplayed everything from the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf to
the environmental impact -- said there is "no evidence" that huge
amounts of oil are suspended undersea.

OIL SPILL-WASHINGTON

A
congressman is questioning BP CEO Tony Hayward's claim that the oil
company has not found evidence of underwater oil plumes. Scientists
have reported plumes as long as 22 miles.

Rep. Edward Markey,
D-Mass., said BP in this instance means "Blind to Plumes." He sent a
letter to Hayward on Monday asking for documents to back up his claims.

Markey,
chairman of a House Energy and Commerce Committee environmental panel,
said it is vital that the government and researchers have unfettered
access to all relevant data or analysis concerning underwater plumes.
He also called on BP to offer "complete transparency" on its video
feeds from the company's underwater operations, calling any delay or
other obstacle unacceptable.

SPILL LIABILITY

U.S. Sen.
Charles Schumer says he will introduce a bill to repeal a law that
could allow the owner of the oil drilling rig that sank in the Gulf of
Mexico to limit its liability for the disaster to $27 million. Schumer
called it "outrageous" that the company could "get away with paying
mere pennies of the total cost of clean-up" of the massive oil spill in
the Gulf. Schumer said he will introduce the legislation Tuesday.

OIL SPILL-TOURISM

Tourists
along the Gulf coast are enjoying the beaches despite the nation's
worst oil spill. tourism officials from Mississippi to Florida have
fought the perception that oil has come ashore, and hotels have offered
lower rates and other incentives to vacationers. Though some tar balls
have been found on Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands, oil from
the spill has not significantly fouled the shores.